Online Classroom Research Articles

Improving English Listening and Speaking Abilities in Online Interactive Platforms

In the globalized and digitized modern society, the cultivation of English listening and speaking ability has attracted more and more attention. With the development of information technology, the application of classroom online interactive platforms in English listening and speaking teaching is becoming increasingly widespread. However, existing studies focus on the technical performance and functionality of online interactive platforms, lacking a deep understanding of students’ actual learning behaviors and teachers’ using behaviors. Moreover, most of the studies analyze the platform effect at the macro level and neglect the impact of the student-teacher interactive mode at the micro level. Therefore, this research focused on studying the hierarchical clustering of students’ online learning behaviors and the typical student-teacher interactive mode of “resource-platform-need,” aiming to fill this gap. A data-driven research method was used, which was expected to provide new understanding and perspectives, bringing new theoretical and practical values to the educational technology field. The research results helped design and optimize the online interactive platform and better met the needs of students and teachers, thus promoting the development of English listening and speaking teaching.

On-site and Online Classroom Activities and Thai EFL Learners’ Language Anxiety before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The present study has been conducted in order to study the classroom activities and the levels of learning anxiety of the third-year English majors both who show high academic performance (HAP) and low academic performance (LAP), before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers have compared the different levels of the students’ anxiety and the effects of classroom activities on the students during both periods. The participants of the study were 114 third-year English majors from two public universities in Thailand: 1) Southern University (SU) and 2) Northeastern University (NEU) (the university names used are pseudonyms). The number of HAP students was 57, and the remaining 57 students showed LAP. To collect the data, the researchers adopted a questionnaire and an in-deph interview as data collection tools. The questionnaire was administered to 114 students, and four of whom voluntarily participated in the interview session - two of whom held HAP while the other two had LAP.
 
 The results showed that before the pandemic, both HAP and LAP students similarly experienced the activities in the aspect of participation mode activity most often. The least often experienced activities for those with HAP were speaking activities, but ones for the LAP students were reading activities. During the pandemic, the HAP students most often experienced the participation mode activities while those with LAP experienced all types of classroom activities at a moderate level. However, the two groups were similar in that they experienced speaking activities the least. In terms of the level of English learning anxiety, both groups similarly had overall learning anxiety at a high level both before and during the pandemic. However, the data revealed that their levels of English learning anxiety before the outbreak were statistically significantly different, but the two groups had the similar levels of learning anxiety during the pandemic. In terms of the effects of classroom activities on the English majors, the data showed that the activities used before the pandemic including speaking activities (i.e., oral presentations and reading pronunciation) and taking exams (scheduled exams and pop-up quizzes) affected both groups similarly. This was because they were nervous and excited about being in front of the class while doing speaking tasks and they were worried about their marks when taking exams. However, two activities including 1) being unexpectedly called on and 2) group work had different effects on the two groups. That means only LAP students experienced anxiety when being randomly called on while group work only increased the learning anxiety of those with HAP. In addition, the activities causing both groups to have learning anxiety during the pandemic were doing group work, being called on randomly, online listening, and doing activities with evaluations. The data revealed the two causes of the anxiety that were 1) the problems about online communication and being unacquainted with other members when doing group work and 2) their unfamiliarity with the foreign teachers’ accent and pronunciation. In addition, the results revealed online presentations can reduce both groups’ learning anxiety while online examinations could reduce only LAP English majors’ learning anxiety.

The Road to Becoming a “Live-Streaming Star”: Ecological Influences on Improvisation Efforts Among Teaching-from-Home Chinese English as a Foreign Language Teachers in the COVID-19 Outbreak

When the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak threw the world into a public panic, teachers worldwide were challenged to adapt to a new pedagogical ecology as online delivery of classes was widely made a required necessity. This study explores how language teachers responded to the sudden disruption via improvisational endeavours during the first online semester and how their endeavours were influenced by various ecological factors beyond the online classroom. Data were collected using a survey and interviews with English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers from three universities in eastern coastal China. The results showed that the participants’ improvisation efforts featured limited preparation and creativity and a lukewarm willingness to try out new things while teaching from home. Ecological influences on the teachers’ improvisation efforts were identified as a multitude of institutional, daily contextual, sociocultural, and personal factors that interacted in complex, less predictable ways. In general, the diverse sources of influence exerted a mixed impact on individual teachers’ improvisation practices and performance. Sociocultural influence, in particular the “live-streaming star” meme, was found to be a unique source of inspiration and support. This exploratory study expands the research of improvisation in educational settings, which has largely been associated with pedagogical innovation to adapt to micro-level changes. In the emergency remote teaching scenario, innovative attempts made by individual teachers were subject to the meso-level and the macro-level ecological influences, which may overwhelm or deter practitioners. Apart from potential theoretical and pedagogical implications, the study offers insights into the nature and impact of crisis-prompted online teaching in and beyond the COVID-19 context.

Challenges and instructor strategies for transitioning to online learning during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: a review of literature

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an unprecedented shift to online learning, significantly impacting the higher education landscape. This paper examines the challenges faced by faculty and students during the rapid transition to online instruction and explores best practices for delivering effective online courses. The increased adoption of online learning created stress for faculty and resulted in academic setbacks for students. Although challenges are present strategies exist to help faculty create rich online learning environments. One important element is engagement, which looks at both student engagement with the material and with their classmates and faculty. In addition to working on student engagement the faculty were now in a position that required a new type of expertise to manage online interactions, which can be much different from their experiences in traditional classrooms. Insufficient time for proper course adaptation and limited knowledge of online teaching methods added to these challenges. Effective online delivery requires careful planning, utilization of advanced instructional technologies, and creating an immersive and interactive learning environment. Faculty must also adapt their teaching strategies to accommodate the unique challenges of online instruction. This review highlights the significance of a quality learning management system (LMS) as the backbone of online courses. An effective LMS facilitates course management, content delivery, and student interaction. Future considerations include providing comprehensive faculty support and training, promoting effective communication and collaboration among students, and incorporating interactive elements into online lessons. The following will provide lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic which will help faculty to improve their instructional competence and social presence in the online classroom.

EmotionFusion: A unified ensemble R-CNN approach for advanced facial emotion analysis

To assess non-verbal reactions to commodities, services, or products, sentiment analysis is the technique of identifying exhibited human emotions utilizing artificial intelligence-based technology. The facial muscles flex and contract differently in response to each facial expression that a person makes, which facilitates the deep learning AI algorithms’ ability to identify an emotion. Facial emotion analysis has numerous applications across various industries and domains, leveraging the understanding of human emotions conveyed through facial expressions, so it is very much required in healthcare, security and survelliance, Forensics, Autism and cultural studies etc,.. In this study, facially expressed sentiments in real-time photographs as well as in an existing dataset are classified using object detection techniques based on deep learning. Fast Region-based Convolution Neural Network (R-CNN) is an object detection system that uses suggested areas to categorize facial expressions of emotion in real-time. Using a high-quality video collection made up of 24 actors who were photographed facially expressing eight distinct emotions (Happy, Sad, Disgust, Anger, Surprise, Fear, Contempt and Neutral). The Fast R-CNN and Mouth region-based feature extraction and Maximally Stable Extremal Regions (MSER) method used for classification and feature extraction respectively. In order to assess the deep network’s performance, the proposed work builds a confusion matrix. The network generalizes to new images rather well, as seen by the average recognition rate of 97.6% for eight emotions. The suggested deep network approach may deliver superior recognition performance when compared to CNN and SVM methods, and it can be applied to a variety of applications including online classrooms, video game testing, healthcare sectors, and automated industry.

Understanding the Unexpected Transition from In-Person to Online Courses: Perspectives from Community College Students in STEM

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted community colleges and created a new context in which they were forced to operate. Faculty, especially those who normally taught in-person, were required to transition quickly to fully online classrooms. Drawing on semi-structured interviews conducted at the start of the pandemic with 17 students pursuing degree programs in STEM across a three-campus community college district, the current study provides insights on the consequences of the pandemic on the classroom experience, and offers considerations for virtual instruction moving forward. Data collection for the current inquiry was guided by a framework for accessible and efficient e-learning. While findings suggest that courses were, to the extent possible, structured to meet students’ needs during the peak of the pandemic, the data also highlights the difficulty that some courses had with online learning. Moreover, certain choices had unequal and unintended implications on students’ experiences. Findings drive recommendations for institutional and faculty practice of virtual instruction that apply beyond the context of the pandemic.

Five Priorities to Help Learners in the Online Classroom

To maximize online student learning, instructors should prioritize their time towards instructional strategies that students deem most impactful, such as providing individualized, one-to-one feedback; adopting a holistic feedback approach; engaging in asynchronous discussion forums; curating relevant content resources; and presenting instructional content in efficient, versatile formats. As research reveals, learners value instructor feedback and engagement in online discussions above all else, thereby guiding where educators should focus their limited instructional time.

The Power of the Voice in Facilitating and Maintaining Online Presence in the Era of Zoom and Teams

With the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing popularity of video-conferencing software such as Zoom, the move to online and /or hybrid teaching has never been more rapid. With this change, however, maintaining presence in the classroom has become a great challenge simply because of the nature of online teaching. Presence is a teaching quality that enables the teacher to ‘own the room’ and create an atmosphere of focus and inspiration. With the loss of face-to-face contact and the diminution of body language that online teaching entails, the teacher has to rely more and more on their own voice to hold presence in the class. While voice has always been an important tool in the teacher’s expressive armoury, it takes on a more central role in online teaching and can be the only element that connects teachers to students. Yet many teachers still front classes where voice audio quality is severely restricted due in part to poor choice of microphone and setups on their behalf. In this article I will discuss the notion of presence in online classrooms with regard to voice, and show how teachers can maintain and manipulate this feature in order to retain appeal for students.

Prosumers of Hybrid Entertainment-Educational Communication in a Media Convergence Environment

Communication technology is changing the way of interacting by combining face-to-face classroom and online meetings. The YouTube channel is an alternative learning center where participants can share educational content. Participants act as producers and consumers of all knowledge products and simple technology. This paper discusses the involvement and characteristics of producers-consumers (prosumers) in producing, distributing, and consuming entertainment-educational content on Social Network Sites (SNS), especially YouTube. This paper also discusses changes in the educational landscape from and for fellow participants in online media as a consequence of media convergence by promoting a hybrid-learning alternative education model that combines informal contexts and formal education. Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is used as a research method to analyze several dimensions related to entertainment education, such as student and teacher knowledge and skills, antecedents, hybrid-learning cycles, Bloom's level of taxonomy, enactment, and prosumer outcomes in a model. YouTube content for prosumers is an entertaining sharing of knowledge for a safer, healthier, and happier life. Specifically, prosumers make YouTube and other social media as online classroom channels for completing school and university assignments and as fun learning centers to achieve the best academic performance. The existence of prosumers in hybrid education refers to the Flipped model by considering Bloom's taxonomy as practice and reflection in the cycle. The highest level in Bloom's is "creating" after prosumers did "evaluating," "analyzing," "applying," "understanding," and "remembering" as the lower levels. The implications of this research reflects the importance of development of entertainment-education contents as an alternative educational channel.

User Experience Evaluation of a Virtual Reality Tool Used for 3D Modelling in Industrial Design Education: A Study in the Indian Context

Virtual reality (VR) technology has recently been adopted by educators for use in the classroom. Currently, this educational model includes not only lectures with teachers in the online classroom but also practical sessions using online platforms. Few studies have explored the potential of pedagogical approaches to implementing VR in the classroom for the purpose of design education. The focus of this paper was to study the learning experiences of the 3D visualisation of products among industrial design students through the strategic implementation of virtual reality technology. A within-subjects comparative study was conducted to measure cognitive workload and engagement and enjoyment, while a 3D modelling task was given using two different set-ups (conventional 3D software versus VR-based software). The statistical results show that the NASA-TLX score was lower in the case of the VR-based 3D modelling exercise compared to the conventional 3D software-based exercise. On the other hand, the mean values were higher for the engagement and enjoyment and usability scores, which means that the VR-based experience for 3D modelling was better than the traditional modelling experience using conventional software. Hence, there are possibilities to implement VR-based 3D modelling tools for online industrial design education for 3D visualisation in the near future.

Developing through Merits and Demerits: A Literature Review of Online Classroom, Teaching Motivation and Teaching Methods in China Primary School

The objectives of this study were to investigate current issues in online classrooms and examine solutions proposed in past research. Furthermore, this study analyses the teaching motivation and teaching methods used in online classrooms in primary schools in China. This research utilised a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) methodology with six procedures. The articles have been sourced from popular databases like CNKI, Baidu Scholar, Google Scholar, and Eric. The main problem in online classrooms lies in the decrease in and change of interaction between teachers and students. It ultimately leads to three main types of positive phenomena: a reduced effectiveness of teaching and learning, a sense of isolation, and a lack of feedback. The solutions of the researchers can be classified into two categories: Educational technology innovation, and Teaching innovation. The former emphasizes technology and digital tools, while the latter emphasizes solving the problem from two directions: educational psychology and teaching. The findings indicate that teaching motivation and methods are crucial variables in online classrooms. Nevertheless, a significant-scale study examining the role of these two variables in online classrooms has not been carried out yet. In this study we analysed and solved relevant problems from these perspectives. In addition, we also analysed the potential relationship between teaching motivation and teaching methods from three different theoretical perspectives. Thus, we trust to contribute to future studies and offer fresh avenues for addressing numerous issues in online classroom teaching and learning.

During the Epidemic Prevention and Control Period, the Principal’s Management of Online Course Teaching in Chinese Universities

At the end of 2019, the new crown epidemic swept across the globe and also affected education systems around the world. This paper aims to explore the challenges brought by the pandemic crisis to online classroom teaching, and the principal’s exploration of the emergency management model of online course teaching, that is, how Chinese universities can quickly implement large-scale online teaching, and how teachers and students can quickly adapt to online teaching. Demonstrate the process of managing online classroom instruction and the problems and solutions encountered by headmasters in the context of an epidemic. Opening up a new perspective for the sustainable development of online education in the future.

THE USE AND IMPACT OF ICT AMONG STUDENTS AND TEACHERS:A CASE STUDY WITH REFERENCE TO MILAGRES COLLEGE MANGALURU

Purpose: Realizing the modern trends of ICT, Milagres College Mangalore has initiated and installed all possible ICT related facilities. The college has made extra efforts to provide the ICT facilities for UG students, staff and faculty members to promote and develop the teaching-learning process. Therefore, an attempt is made to take up this topic as a case study to analyze the impact of ICT and its contribution on Education at Milagres College, Mangaluru, D.K, and India. Methodology: The fundamental facts are gathered from primary and secondary sources. Structured surveys are used to gather primary data, and books, articles, and websites are used to collect secondary data. The respondents are chosen using the convenience sample approach. The studys sample size is 50, and the participants are staff and students of Milagres College in Mangalore. Findings: The results of the study showed that the integration of ICT has contributed in creating better atmosphere of teaching learning process. As a result, it has helped teachers to be more engaged, productive,interactive and dynamic in learning teaching environments at Milagres College. The college has provided Internet facilities to every class room, WI -fi on every floor, LCD projectors in every class room. Facilities such as well-set Computer Lab with internet facility, E-Library facility in the reading room and NLIST and Easylib Library Management Softwares, Milagres Learning Management System (MLMS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Education Administration Management, E-Content recording and publishing, Power Point Presentation, YouTube Videos, CCTV surveillance security system, Biometric Attendance System, Online and digital Payment System, Social Media Platforms, Intercom communication system, Google Meet, Zoom and WebEx online classrooms platforms etc. are been used for teaching learning process and administrative purposes. Originality: This case study discusses the management initiatives that have facilitated the college beyond the campus, through online teaching learning initiatives and analyses the impact of these efforts on knowledge dissemination and a teacher productivity (Eengagement) Paper type: Case study KEY WORDS: ICT, LMS, E-Library, Easylib, ERP, Teaching Learning Process, Resource, Perception, Communication, Promotion, Management, Engagement.

C5-LMS design using Google Classroom: user acceptance based on extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology

ABSTRACT Changes in the educational landscape due to the COVID-19 pandemic open opportunities to create instructional materials that will make teaching and learning easier. The use of a learning tool such as Learning Management System (LMS) as the online classrooms of students is one of the essentials in an online learning environment. Utilizing an action research design, this study aims to assess the designed Cloud-based Centralized Collaborative Classroom and Communication – Learning Management System (C5-LMS) using Google Classroom. The assessment of C5-LMS was anchored on the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. The respondents of the study were the faculty members, supervisors, and students of a certain college that utilized the pilot of C5-LMS design. Findings of the study revealed that the C5-LMS via Google Classroom gained “acceptability” among the respondents in terms of extended UTAUT constructs. Users’ overall acceptance of the C5-LMS when grouped according to their roles revealed that the teacher-respondents’ rating is highly acceptable, nevertheless, the superior and students’ assessment is acceptable. Moreover, all the respondents confirmed that the C5-LMS has the following capabilities that corroborate the initial findings: collaboration, communication, facilitation tasks, usefulness, easy navigation, and monitoring system.

The Importance of Students’ Perception of Online Learning During Pandemic

The Covid-19 epidemic has affected both traditional and online classrooms and the Indonesian government, including education. The world of education is one of the fields that has been badly affected by the pandemic. This research is descriptive research with a questionnaire in a survey via Google Forms to gather information about how they feel about their online course. The subject of this research were students of English Education Department. The data were the usage of applications in online learning, student participation, accessibility, distribution of materials and assignments, and material delivery. Tables and narrative summaries of the findings are provided. This study highlighted three key barriers to online learning, and nearly half of the respondents did not have a favorable opinion of it. Even though over 50% of students claimed to have encountered challenges with online learning, including poor signal, boredom, being unable to meet friends, losing focus while studying, not understanding the subject, and improper settings. Because they reside in villages and rural areas, please encourage their online learning activities. This research is expected to aid in advancing related studies and serve as a foundation for future considerations regarding the development and sustainability of the teaching and learning process without endangering kids, teachers, or parents.

Assessing the Level of Concentration and Full Presence of Perfectionist Students in Online Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: COVID-19 changed the global view of education in less than a few weeks and changed how students are taught worldwide. Online education, while having many advantages, also brings limitations and problems for some students. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the “level of concentration” and “full presence in the class” of perfectionist students in online education among the exceptionally talented students of the higher secondary school in Iran.
 Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 100 randomly selected exceptionally talented students of a higher secondary school in Karaj, Iran. The research tools included perfectionism and concentration skill questionnaires that were provided to students online.
 Results: The findings showed no significant difference in the class’s level of concentration and full presence between students with different degrees of perfectionism (p=0.514 and p=0.247, respectively). However, due to the technical problems of online classrooms, 64% of students with high perfectionism were fully present in the classroom in less than 30 min. This rate was 47% for students with low perfectionism.
 Conclusion: It seems that due to the difference between face-to-face and virtual learning environments, holding online classes along with determining and setting the topics of lessons and training hours differently from face-to-face classes and shorter and more concise in creating an interactive atmosphere may be more useful.

Learning loss and psychosocial issues among Thai students amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: the perspectives of teachers in the online classroom

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a broad influence on health and society across the globe, especially on the education sector as its educators have had to continue the provision of teaching and learning opportunities to their students online in the midst of pandemic. This has led to learning loss and psychological health issues among students, which is now being recognized worldwide. This study aims to explore the perceptions, perspectives, and experiences of teachers with regards to learning loss and psychological health issues among students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand.MethodsDescriptive qualitative research was employed to gain a richer understanding of this interesting phenomenon. The experiences of twelve primary and secondary teachers were looked into by dividing them into several focus groups and interviewing them through video conferencing. All interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed through the use of content analysis.ResultsThe findings that include the perceptions, perspectives, and experiences among teachers focused on three main themes, which are teaching and Learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and support to deal with the psychosocial issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are then divided into fifteen sub themes.ConclusionsThrough these findings, this study is able to provide an understanding of the perceptions, perspectives, and experiences of teachers regarding learning loss and psychosocial issues among students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand. It also highlights the psychological issues that were met, the social and family support offered, ways how learning loss among students could have been prevented in the midst of the pandemic, and finally suggests what the education administrators and healthcare or public health sector administrators can do to enhance the quality of education and resilience skills of the students during and after the pandemic.

Curriculum Delivery Through Learning Technologies in Online Classrooms: Challenges and Prospects in Higher Education

Higher education institutions in most developing African nations have been classroom-based. This practice has been in place for decades in African countries, with many benefits for stakeholders. Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic experiences in the global space brought a new approach to curriculum delivery. Universities in most developed countries have expanded, using various digital technologies for teaching and learning. However, the case was a severe challenge in Africa, where many were cut off from teaching and learning activities for months. The study explored the transition from conventional classroom curriculum delivery to online learning as the only alternative approach during the pandemic. Although online learning encourages self-directed learning in students, the study explains the self-determination theory as it underpins online learning. A content analysis of various literature sources on the phenomenon was employed for this systematic review. Findings revealed that many universities in South Africa encountered severe challenges in fully adopting online classes for curriculum delivery. Teaching and learning activities were grounded for months until the Department of Higher Education and Training compelled all to embrace learning technologies to salvage the academic calendar. Rural-based students were reported to be significantly challenged in accessing online learning activities. affirmExtant literature sources affirmed that higher education institutions were unprepared for the sudden transition from conventional classrooms to online learning. Hence, they needed help to take rapid measures to integrate online learning into the system. Many challenges have been encountered in this technological transformation of the teaching and learning approach; the study, therefore, recommends, among others, adequate provision of learning technologies, provision of intense technical know-how support for lecturers for effective use of online learning.

Portraying EFL teacher's questioning strategies and practices: the case of a vocational school in Indonesia

Although many studies have explored teacher questioning strategies (TQS) in EFL classrooms, only some studies have been conducted in EFL online classes in a vocational high school context. This study aims to shed the EFL online classroom practices regarding using first language and teacher's questioning strategy. To this end, a qualitative case study was conducted at one public vocational school in Karawang, West Java, Indonesia. Data were collected through Zoom recordings for four sessions and classroom observation. Additionally, follow-up interviews were conducted after the classes. The data were analysed with thematic analysis. The findings revealed bilingual classrooms with teachers adopting the first language to build rapport, ice-breaking, and grammar explanation. The teachers also adopted various TQS: rephrasing, repetition, simplification, and decomposition. The findings confirm the roles of teachers' questioning strategies to improve students' engagement. This engagement contributes to students' understanding, resulting in enhanced learning effectiveness. Therefore, teachers need to strengthen their awareness of their questioning abilities to optimise the teaching and learning experience in the classroom.

The Challenges in Teaching English Online to Young Learners: Teachers’ Voices

Teaching and learning activities had shifted to online classes due to Covid-19 pandemic outbreaks. Hence,primary school teachers in Indonesia encountered several challenges with the unexpected changes inEnglish face-to-face classroom interaction to online learning with digital platforms. This study exploredthe challenges faced by four Indonesian EFL primary school teachers in implementing online learningand teachers’ solutions to the challenges. A qualitative study with a phenomenological approach was usedas the research design, and the data collection was obtained through observation and interview. Thisstudy showed that teachers found online English Language Teaching (ELT) activities more difficult thanface-to-face classrooms due to some challenges. The technical issue became the first challenge faced bythe teachers since both teachers and students needed an internet connection and device management.Secondly, most teachers found it difficult to implement various teaching methods in online learning. Theother reasons were that enhancing students’ engagement required more effort, and assessing students’English development took more work than in the face-to-face classroom. The implication of this researchis for teachers and students as it may help them address and generate new insights about the challengesand solutions in online classrooms. Furthermore, it highlights specific areas for future research.